A new generation, an old enemy
by Eryn Michaels
Summary: The old 17th platoon is gone, more than 20 years have past since Layfon shocked Zuellni with his strength, and now a new generation has come together, to fight an old enemy.  Some romance involved, violence akin to the anime involved
1. First Day

**Edit: Well, it apparently didn't like my line breaks even after I edited it... x_x **

**Anyhow, I don't own Chrome Shelled Regios or any of _its_ characters, but I do own all of the new ones being added in. You probably won't see much of any of Chrome Shelled Regios' characters since this is the second generation, but hey, I might add them in every now and then.**

**...**

"So where are you headed to now?" Leerin Marfes asked Layfon as he gave her one last hug before heading off on a roaming bus, having completed his final year at Zuellni Academy.

"I don't know yet, Leerin" He stated simply, running a hand through his hair briefly before turning away from her. "I might return to Glenden one day, it depends on where this bus takes me." And with that, the child prodigy who was no longer a child left on a roaming bus towards an unknown city.

-20 years later…-

"Akira, wait up a bit!" I shouted angrily. My twin brother was not being very helpful as he ran ahead of me, leaving me in the dust. I sighed as he waved back at me, waiting for me to catch up to him.

"Lyra, we're going to be late if you don't hurry up!" He told me excitedly. Ever since father had told us about the wonders of Zuellni we both have been waiting for the day that we were able to go to the academy. And mother didn't disagree, for our parents had met each other there.

It was then that I noticed the other students around us and all of the older ones trying to recruit members for their platoons. "Do you think we'll get on the same platoon as mother and father were on?" I asked Akira, slightly nervous since both of us were entering into the military arts program of Zuellni.

Akira shrugged, "I don't know, they might not even have a 17th platoon anymore, and if they do, it might already be full. Besides, I want to branch out, I don't want to be on the same squad as them or be shadowed by their reputations, you know what I mean?"

A young man noticed us standing on the sidelines and approached us. "Hey, what are your names?" He asked us politely, holding out a hand. "I'm Aero Karich, in case you were wondering," he winked at me and I blushed slightly.

Akira, annoying brother that he was took a slight step in front of me and took Aero's hand. "I'm Akira, and this is my twin sister Lyra."

I rolled my eyes, "I can introduce myself Akira," I mumbled glaring at him as I took Aero's hand.

"I see you haven't been placed on a squad yet…" Aero began with a smile. "So, would either of you be interested in joining the 13th squad? We could definitely use some extra members, if you're interested that is."

I nodded my agreement, before looking over at Akira who looked torn. "We don't need to be on the same squad Akira," I said to him. "Father told us that he'd be happy with whatever we chose." I took the badge Aero handed to me and hid a smile as Akira agreed as well.

"Well, I'll find you both after the ceremony then, to show you around our platoon's training area." Aero waved at Akira and me as we walked into the hall.

After the ceremony both Akira and I headed outside to try and find Aero again, after all, he was supposed to show us around where we would be staying and our training area wasn't he?

"Hey, Lyra! Akira! Over here!" I heard Aero's familiar voice shouting our way. I looked towards the direction of the voice and waved when I saw his familiar short blond hair and mischievous brown eyes.

-Akira's POV-

Was it just him, or was that flirtatious new platoon leader of his trying to flirt with his twin sister? He knew that Lyra was beautiful, what, with her long tea-colored hair so similar to their father's and with her blue eyes so similar to their mother's she would definitely make many men envious… but with him around? They had another thing coming. His bright blue eyes darkened with suspicion as he walked right beside his sister, his hands flexing in his pockets as he pretended to casually walk beside Lyra.

-Multi-person POV-

"Stop fidgeting, Akira," Lyra stated with a sigh as she turned her head slightly to look at her brother, her brother who looked so much like their father, or at least the pictures they had of him when he was their age, and from what their mom said. She just hoped that their parents, Layfon Alseif and Nina Antalk, weren't as widely renowned in this city. More than twenty years had gone past since the battle with the contaminoid, and no one had really heard from either of their parent's that much since both of them graduated… But all the same, she didn't want to be overshadowed by her parents, she wanted to be Lyra Alseif, to make a name for herself, just like Akira wanted to be his own self.

"I'm not fidgeting Lyra." Akira stated in a blank tone. "I'm walking, just like you."

"Then why are you clenching and unclenching your fists. You make it seem as if there's going to be a fight right away."

"And what if there is? Shouldn't I be prepared for anything?" His eyes looked at her and she saw the ice in them.

"If you didn't like Aero, then you didn't have to join the 13th platoon, brother." She said looking down at her feet. "Our parents trained us to take care of ourselves, and besides, I wouldn't mind fighting against you in a platoon battle."

Akira remained silent choosing not to reply as they neared Aero.

"What took you guys so long to get here?" The young man, probably only two or three years older than them, asked them as they approached. "Anyhow, this is Aislyn Lero, our nani operator," Aero pointed a young woman with short black hair that was done up in spikes of a sort.

"Pleased to meet you, Lyra and Akira wasn't it?" The young woman stated softly, her voice blank as most of the other nani operators that they had run into in the past.

"Over here is Michael Arok, our dite-mechanic, he makes sure that they all work the way they're supposed to, but he also takes part in combat, Michael's the fan favorite of the 13th so far." He nodded at a tall young man with long-ish red hair that partially covered up his stunning green eyes.

"And here comes Maya Rain, our guns master and lieutenant of the platoon. She's pretty much our strategist, although I get to make the final decisions in any given plan." He pointed at a woman with long red hair and green eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that fell to the middle of her back.

The gorgeous woman gave a slight salute before turning to Aero. "Didn't you say that there were three new members joining our platoon this year?" She asked the blonde-haired man.

"Oh yeah, Shin Hajai has yet to show his handsome face around here as well." Aero said, putting a finger to his chin. Lyra suddenly wondered if Aero was even sane and if she had made the wrong choice to put both herself and Akira in a platoon with him.

"He's on his way over now," Aislyn said mysteriously, pointing over her shoulder with a thumb. "He apologizes for being so late."

Lyra noted that Aislyn was more emotional than many nani operators she had seen working with her parents before. Most of them rarely displayed any type of emotion since they had so much other information going through their brain they had to block out what wasn't essential.

"Sorry I'm late!" Shin, a man with short navy blue hair that barely reached his eyes, panted as he arrived at the group of people. "A couple of military art students started a fight after the ceremony and I was stuck inside for a couple of minutes when the fight was stopped."

"Well you just missed the introductions, but that's Aislyn, Michael, Maya, Akira, and Lyra. We'll give you a proper introduction to all of them later, but for now we need to get this show on the road!" He punched his fist into the air before turning walking away, presumably to where they would be training from now on with the 13th platoon.

...

"Well, this is pretty much going to be your home away from home from now on so start mapping out ways to get here from your rooms!" Aero stated after showing them around the platoon's facilities. "Now, how about you show us your strengths? Let's see, what weapons do you three use?"

"I'm most comfortable using a broadsword, but I can start with a normal sword if you'd like," Shin responded first, making everyone look him over again. His stature was so slight, and he used a broadsword as his main weapon?

"That won't be necessary," Michael responded, digging through a box full of dites. "I've run into all kinds of surprises, so we've got one on hand, it's kind of old though, so I don't know how well it will work, but you can give it a try." He tossed the dite to Shin before turning to Lyra, "and you?"

"I work with twin swords, but I also have done some work with a katana," She responded strongly.

"Well, I don't have twin dites on hand, so how about trying this one out for now? I can make you some in a couple of days though for you to work with." He tossed another dite to Lyra, a white one with a red accent.

"I use a normal sword." Akira replied simply, taking the one that Michael handed to him. He was starting to like some of the members of the 13th platoon, although he was wary of all of them, especially Aero.

"Hmm, Michael, would you mind sparring with Shin to start?" Aero asked the interesting mechanic.

"Restoration," Michael stated, a long orange sword appearing in his hands. He then went straight on the offensive, not waiting for Shin to prepare.

Shin dodged while his dite turned into a purple broadsword about the length of Shin's own body. He then met Michael's next attack, catching the long sword easily before swinging his sword to push the other back. He leapt forward; adding some kei to his feet as he effortlessly swung his sword to meet Michael's. They went on for a few minutes until Shin stopped, breathless with a sword at his throat.

Aero whistled, and Maya nodded, her eyes looked thoughtful, as if she were already planning a strategy for the next battle. "Well done there Shin!" Aero stated, patting the younger man on the back. "Next, Akira and Lyra, do you mind pairing up against each other? If you both have trained together I'd like to see how you match up to each other."

Lyra exchanged a glance with her brother before shrugging. "Restoration" she said firmly, feeling the weight of the unusual sword in her grasp. It wasn't a katana, but a shorter sword, similar to a twin sword, but without the matching blade in her other hand. It would do, for now at least.

Akira sighed, "Restoration" as his red and black dite changed into a normal hand-and-a-half sword, about three feet long and lighter than he was used to. But it was very well made, and balanced. He twirled it in his hands for a few seconds before settling himself into a basic stance, his sword held slightly to his right side and tilted towards Lyra. "Your move sis," He said calmly.

Lyra nodded and added a bit of kei to her legs allowing herself speed as she held her sword in one hand. She would have liked to have had a second blade in order to be more detailed with her attacks but she would have to deal with only having one for now. Instead she pulled external kei to her left hand and formed a kei blade, something that could block but wouldn't be able to hold up to much pressure. She feinted with her left hand and threw herself into a downward roll, using her right blade to attack. Her brother met her attack by avoiding the feint and catching her blade in her second attack.

He spun his blade over his shoulder to meet Lyra's sword before shoving her back with his extra strength. He felt her add kei to her right blade and he braced himself for an impact as her sword hit his, smashing through his dite. She didn't reach him with her blade since he had added kei to his legs and jumped backwards, but he sighed as he looked down at the shattered dite in his hands. "That was a faster win than the last time Lyra, and this time you only had one blade." He shook his head.

Lyra simply let her dite restore to its white and red form as she gave a mischievous smile in the direction of her brother.

"Well that was an interesting fight!" Aero stated as he clapped his hands. "Michael, you'll definitely need to do some testing on all three of their kei outputs. Lyra shattered Akira's blade, and Shin practically burned his out with his test with you. We definitely gained three formidable new members to the platoon!"

Michael nodded as he took the dites away from Akira, Lyra, and Shin. He seemed to have a mask over his eyes when he took Lyra's dite away from her but she wondered if she was just imagining things. "Would you three mind staying here for a bit so that I can do some testing on your kei output? If I can figure out what would best suit all of you tonight I can prepare some test dites for you for tomorrow's training while working on the main ones throughout the week. Would that work for you Maya?" He turned to the proclaimed strategist of the team.

"I don't see why that should be a problem, it definitely gives me a chance to begin forming a strategy for our upcoming match." She stated, "If that's all that's left for today, do you mind if I head out? I don't think I'd be much help in testing kei output."

Aero nodded, "sure, if you and Aislyn want to head out for today feel free to do so. Same time tomorrow then, we'll be meeting up here for some training with our newer members. I'll take tonight to plan a course that would be helpful for all of us."

Michael waved his hand, "Aero, you can go as well, you'll just get in the way since you don't know how to work the machinery." He said it in a normal tone, one that stated that he had said similar things to their leader many a time.

"I'll just get in the way will I?" Aero pouted but started heading towards the door as well. "I guess I'll see all three of you here tomorrow after classes then." He waved over his shoulder to them.

"I'll start with Shin, so if you'd take this dite and channel your kei through it…" Michael said, tossing another dite to Shin. "Akira, you should find another dite from this box so that I can test your kei flow, Lyra, your dite seems fine so I'll leave that one for you to test with for now. But if you could take this one as well just so that I can test the maximum kei output you have with two blades…" He tossed her a black dite as well.

Shin took the dite and called it out, letting Michael plug it into a bunch of computers.

Akira turned to Lyra. "Is it just me or does Michael seem a bit cold towards you?" He asked his sister.

Lyra sighed, "Yeah, I noticed that as well, do you think it was because of how I utilized my internal and external kei at the same time? Or was it the fact that I fought just fine with only having one sword that wasn't even a katana?" She hoped her brother could come up with some ideas for her.

Akira shook his head. "I'm starting to think it's because of your abilities. You're strong Lyra, you might not be able to beat dad yet, but you're definitely a threat, and didn't Aero tell us that Michael was the fan favorite of our platoon?"

At that moment, Michael disconnected Shin from the machinery and called Akira towards him. Shin handed his dite to Michael and went to sit next to Lyra.

"So you're Lyra, right?" Shin asked, holding out his hand. "I'd like to properly introduce myself to you, I'm Shin Hajai from Sheniebel."

Lyra took his hand in slight shock. "Oh? That's where my mother's from! We're from Glendan though. And yeah, I'm Lyra, and my brother over there is Akira."

"You're from Glendan? So have you met any of the Heaven's Blades? What are they like?" Shin asked very enthusiastically. "I've heard that one of them, Layfon was it? He actually came here once!"

Lyra fidgeted slightly. "Yeah, I've met a couple of them. They're really powerful and kind of intimidating if you're fighting beside them or training with them." She didn't know whether or not to admit that Layfon was her father but she figured she could let Akira figure that out since he was making his way towards them now.

'He knows we're from Glendan, and he knows about dad, but not that he's our dad, you can figure out how much to tell him now, okay?' She added telepathically as she passed by her brother. Sometimes, being a twin was great, it came with extra perks.

-Lyra's POV-

"I'll just attach these to your swords now, and if you wouldn't mind letting your kei flow through them at maximum power for a few minutes…" Michael stated without even looking at me.

I nodded, not that he was looking, and released my maximum kei through my blades. The room glowed with a white light as my kei surrounded both blades. The black blade looked eerie in my hands with a white glow around it, but I guess it couldn't be helped. Tomorrow I would have two dites like my white and red one while he worked on a prototype for twin swords for me.

"You have a strong external kei flow and you've already shown that you're proficient in internal kei during a fight. Who trained you?" Michael asked as he stared at his screens, measuring my kei.

"I was trained by my mother and father in Glendan." I stated clearly. I was amazed that I wasn't feeling tired at all even though I had been letting my kei flow at maximum power for over a minute.

"Glendan? Nice city, the origin of the military arts and the strongest regios on our planet. So who are your parents?"

'Akira, what do I tell him?' I asked my brother through our link. I didn't want to tell people right away if Akira didn't want me to.

'Go ahead and tell him Lyra, Shin already knows, and I think Aero's taken a guess or two. It doesn't matter anymore, someone would find out someday.' He told me.

I sighed and found Michael looking at me, waiting for an answer. "Sorry, but our parents are Layfon and Nina Alseif. Both of them used to be a part of the 17th platoon over twenty years ago. Our father was returned his Heaven's Blade after he returned to Glendan with Nina; both of them have helped to train us since we were little." I replied, wondering if I had given him too much information too soon.

The look on Michael's face was astonished, slightly at least, but not completely surprised. "I had a thought that your parents would be renowned of some sort, but I didn't think you were related to Layfon, I remember when my mother talked of him, so that's where your strength comes from."

I glared at him slightly, my kei taking a very feint red tinge. "I didn't get all of my strength from him. A lot of it is from my mother as well, and don't you forget that." I always felt that people underestimated my mother; they seemed to only hear my father's name and then left my mother in the background. But that wasn't true, my mother was strong, and she had taught me more than my father did, since he was always busy with his job.

Michael laughed slightly. "I didn't say that you only got your strength from your father, but I don't know much about Nina, my mother never said much about her, and my father never met either of them."

I got my kei back under control and looked at Michael curiously, "So who was your mother?"

"She went by Mayshen Torinden in her time at Zuellni. Your father saved her life once." He stated as he disconnected the cables from my swords. I handed him the dites. "Well, I guess that's it for the night then, you three can go now, I'll see you all tomorrow." He waved me away and I went to join Akira and Shin.

**-Extra notes-**

**Well, so how is this for a completely second generation plot line? Nothing really exciting right now, but it'll get better, at least I hope it will, ^^**

**Layfon: I have two kids… x_x**

**Nina: Layfon, please tell me you knew this was coming…**

**Me: Trust me, I don't think either of you did, but you can stay over in Glendan, you don't get much show time in this fanfic… Well, I might do a couple of letters or something, maybe a couple of side plots? But yeah, you guys won't show up much, ^^**


	2. New life? Or not

…Letter to Glenden…

'_We have officially started at Zuellni and we're already on a squad! Was it this hectic when you both first came to Zuellni? Anyhow, Akira and I are both on the 13th platoon. It's kind of larger than Akira and I were expecting, what with seven members including Akira and myself. We officially started training yesterday and our first battle is coming up two weeks from now! Anyhow, Akira's looking over my shoulder telling me to tell you about our squad members… (he can be so pushy…)_

_To start there's Aero Karich who's the leader of our platoon. Akira thinks he's a flirt but I just think he's intriguing. Then there's Maya Rain, she's an expert on gun styles and ways to use them, and she's Aero's lieutenant (so he says at least). Our nani operator is Aislyn Lero; I think she's nice, though she doesn't talk much. Michael Arok is our dite mechanic, but he's also trained in combat using a long sword. He's pretty good at it to! And then there's Akira and myself, along with another new member, Shin Hajai. He uses a broadsword even though he's really lean, we found out that he has a lot of internal kei. Also, he's from Sheniebel, just like you mom!_

_Well, that's all for now!_

_~Lyra Alseif (and Akira looking over my shoulder…)_

…Girls' POV…

"Hey, Lyra! Over here!" The call came from a short woman with long red hair tied up in a high ponytail. A slightly taller woman with short and spiky black hair stood right next to her. "Come on Lyra, join us!"

Lyra smiled as she saw her teammates. Although, it was weird not living in the same area as her brother, especially since they used to live right next to each other in their house. It was different but not completely unpleasant. It at least gave her a chance to learn more about two of her teammates. She wondered if Akira was doing the same thing. They were too far apart from each other to talk to each other, so she had no idea what was going on with him.

She shrugged and ran to join Maya and Aislyn. "What's up?" She asked in greeting.

"Not much, we were just walking to the training area for a little practice. You don't have too much homework tonight do you?" Maya asked curiously. "'Cause if you don't I'd love to see how you, Shin, and Akira stand up to a few different tests. If we're lucky Michael will already have some test dites ready for all three of you."

Lyra nodded. "Yeah, I don't have that much homework and I'd love to!" Lyra couldn't help but want to feel the weight of two balanced dites in her hands. She couldn't help but love fighting.

…Akira's POV…

I sighed as school finally ended. I hadn't seen much of Lyra at all today and right now she was too far away for me to talk to her. I figured she probably would make her way straight to training after school got out, and so I decided that I would to. I didn't love fighting the way Lyra did, probably one of the reasons I wasn't as good as her, but I did enjoy it to an extent. And I couldn't wait to get a chance at fighting Aero; he still pissed me off even though he didn't say much to me. Although yesterday Michael did warn me that Aero was stronger than he looked, which made me wonder how obvious I was making my intentions.

"Hey Akira, I need to talk to you." I turned at the sound of the familiar voice. It was Michael, speak of the devil and he will come…

"What about?" I asked Michael curiously. He appeared tired, but I suppose staying up all night to work on four dites for three people probably didn't help that factor at all. I wondered if he would be training with us today or if he would be sitting it out making observations or something.

The peculiar green-eyed man just waved me over and started walking, probably on his way towards training. I mean, the school day was over and that's when we supposed to train every day.

"It's about your sister. What's she normally like?" I looked at him curiously. This was about Lyra? Was I going to have to worry about her even more now?

"What exactly do you want to know about? And why, if you don't mind my asking?" I didn't exactly know what he was getting at. Was he trying to win over Lyra, or was he asking just so that he could figure out who she was as a teammate? Although, if he had asked Lyra instead of myself she probably would have answered without any hesitation. I guess that's why dad asked me to look out for her….

Michael didn't speak for a couple of moments. "Well, I guess I just want to know about all of you. I already know Maya, Aislyn, and Aero since I've worked with them for a while, but Lyra seems to be the most difficult one of the three of you new members. You're protective, that's obvious enough from the way you watch Aero like a hawk. And Shin is strong but distant. I don't exactly know where he stands when it comes to fighting, but he's someone I could easily work with, same with you." He paused for a few more moments. "But Lyra? I don't really know where she stands at all. She likes to fight, and she's powerful, but I don't know how she views a fight or what she fights for."

I paused for a few moments. According to Michael I was easy to read, and Shin was as well. Why was Lyra so hard for him to read? "She likes to fight because both of my parents did and they sort of drilled that into us in an unconscious manner. From my times fighting against her I know that she fights for herself, and from my experiences in watching her fight against other people I know that she fights to defend." I looked over at Michael. "She will break dites or use her kei to render someone unable to fight, but she won't fight to hurt someone. You could say that she's too much of a girl at heart, but unless she has to, she won't attack someone unless she has a reason to do so. You'd probably learn more if you asked her yourself rather than asking me."

…Aero's POV…

Akira definitely did not like me. That much was clear as he continued to glare at me throughout the entirety of our training today. I could understand that he didn't like my flirting with his sister, but couldn't he tell that I was harmless? I mean, Maya and I were actually going out, not that he knew that, but flirting was just my nature. I didn't actually mean anything by it. I sighed as I used my dagger and sword to block the balls flying around the room. None of them were hitting me since I was able to add kei to my eyes but it didn't seem any of them were hitting the others either. I think Maya got hit once, and Aislyn let one get past her terminals, but the others were doing very well.

Akira was attacking them in an almost brutal manner. I really hope he wasn't pretending that the balls were my head… that could be a disaster waiting to happen. Shin was dodging most of them and then blocking the others, he could definitely manipulate his kei, and he could also use a broadsword that probably weighed more than his entire being… but he seemed awkward in a way, as though he knew what he was doing but didn't know how much to put into training.

Michael was simply moving in an almost unconscious manner. I don't really know how he can use his kei, or a longsword, when he's that tired but he seems to manage it pretty well. I guess that's why he's been a part of our main offensive group for quite a while. I hadn't heard him swear yet, so I guess none of the balls hit him either…

But Lyra? I could definitely tell that she was more of a kei user than anything. Her kei was manipulated in a balanced manner, spread evenly through her swords and her body, with differing focus points at different times. Her left eye and her feet were two of those focus points. She added some extra kei to her swords every now and then in order to speed up her reaction time to blocking one of the balls, and definitely utilized both of her swords in a balanced manner. If Michael didn't mind, I think we might have found ourselves another offensive player. Of course, Maya would have a say in strategy positions as well since she was better at coming up with a winning plan than I was. Well, I shouldn't say that since we both combine our strengths in coming up with strategies in order to create a good plan that seems foolproof.

…Lyra's POV…

As soon as Michael handed me the twin dites I felt happy. Since I had decided to leave my old dites at home to truly start a new life in Zuellni I had been hoping to find a new pair that gave me a better feeling. And the ones that I held in my hands, they had the potential to do that. The blades were about the length of my arms, potentially a little longer but not by much. They were snow white in color, with a fiery accent in a deep red. When I used them in quick succession it almost looked like they were on fire, something that could almost be used as a distraction in a fight.

Unfortunately that counted as being a distraction to myself as well as I very nearly was hit by one of the balls during training. If I hadn't subconsciously turned my head to look at how Akira was doing, it would have actually hit me. I definitely needed to work on that.

I added some more kei to my arms and whirled them around, my left arm following behind my right in a combined attack that could attack and defend at the same time. I also used them separately at times as if I were fighting two opponents. It felt so different from the fight against Akira yesterday that I almost felt as if I were on top of the world! This was why I felt the most comfortable with twin blades, because they were something that balanced me out. When I used only one weapon instead of two of the same, I felt off balanced, in an odd sort of the word. I mean, I could always manipulate my kei to make up for the off balance feeling, but it never felt the same as when I was using two blades. That, and with two blades I never had to worry about accidentally trying to block an attack with my left arm when I didn't have an actual sword in that hand.

…Michael's POV…

Damn was I tired, seriously why did Aero have to go and choose three new members for our platoon when clearly we didn't actually need three new people in our ranks! It wasn't just that making four dites in one night was stressful, but that it was also dangerous. I could easily have made a mistake in any one of them and have not realized it until a match when one of them ended up burned out or broken. I had seen all of their kei potential and they could easily burn out a dite if I wasn't careful enough.

That and the stupid balls wouldn't stop flying at me. I was at the point where I could barely keep my eyes open and yet I still had to make sure I didn't get hit by them. It would have been an insult to myself if I let Aero beat me in a training session, especially since dinner was on the line!

Although, Aero didn't seem to be having any problems hitting them towards me today, he could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. It currently appeared that Maya was losing with getting hit four times already. Aislyn had two hits on her, and Shin was at one. Neither Akira nor Lyra were having any problems, but if I couldn't keep myself awake I definitely would be buying dinner for the whole platoon. I don't think I could afford that at this moment…

I saw one flying towards me and then all of the sudden it wasn't there. I saw a flash of red and white and immediately knew that Lyra had gotten it for me, but… why? It wasn't as if keeping me from buying dinner would benefit her at all, unless it was a way of thanking me for her dites? I shook my head and just continued on with the training.

…Lyra's POV…

"Sorry Maya, but looks like you're buying tonight!" Aero called, panting a little, from across the room. Aislyn seemed relieved that she was off the hook. She wasn't the most emotional of nani operators, that simply wasn't possible, but she did enjoy a few emotions, relief being one of them.

"Come on Shin!" I called as soon as I had strapped my dites into my respective leg sheaths. I had found out early enough that it was easier to grab my dites from my thighs than it ever would be to grab both of them from a belt at the same time. Akira kept his on his belt of course, since one sword on a belt sheath was easy enough to handle. Maya simply kept two handheld guns on her when she wasn't playing as a sniper in a battle. Pistols were easier to use in an ambush, snipers weren't.

I didn't wait for Shin and Akira, since I had felt that both of them were already close. If watching them in training wasn't proof enough that was… I mean, they were practically defending each other's backs during training, even though Shin ended up hit by a ball half way through the training. They were a good team, better than Akira and I ever had been. Was I jealous of them though? I couldn't say that I was, especially since I had known that Akira and I had two very different fighting styles. I had trained with both of our parents in an almost equal manner while Akira had trained more with our father. Mom knew how to use dual weapons, and she helped me develop a style of my own with my matching blades. Dad helped me learn how to fight with a katana just like he helped Akira learn how to use a sword. Both of our parents had helped with our kei training.

So no, I don't think I could be jealous of Akira. He's making friends and a new life for himself, and I'm still holding myself back.


	3. Battle against the 10th

**Woot! First battle coming up in this next chapter! Sorry for being a day late, but my homecoming dance was yesterday and I used all day to help a group of my friends prepare for it. I didn't have time to write yesterday so I hope this chapter makes up for it!**

**By the way, I do not own Chrome Shelled Regios or any of the actual CSR characters. I do however own everyone in Zuellni right now. I'll try to make next chapter better than this one as well. I also need to start writing ahead since I won't be doing much with this during November. (NaNoWriMo is so close in coming!)**

…Letter to Zuellni…

_It's great to hear from you Lyra! I'm glad to hear that you're both on a squad, it sounds like a good one as well. I hope you both don't get in too much trouble. (Especially you Lyra…) Anyhow, if either of you have any problems, please tell us about them. We do worry about you, and I hope that you're having a great time at the Academy. Your father is out right now but as soon as he gets home I will be telling him about your letter as well. _

_With love,_

_Nina Alseif_

…Multi-person POV…

"Alright everyone today is our first interplatoon match." Aero stated pretty calmly as he twirled his two dites in his hands. His eyes hovered over each of the members of his platoon before he continued speaking. "The strategy is as follows. Maya will be using a sniper today in order to keep an eye on all of us. Akira and Shin, you will be on the defensive guarding our flag as much as you can. Maya will be covering the two of you more than the rest of us since the flag is more important right now. Michael and Lyra, you both will work as a team in one direction while Aislyn and I take another direction. Aislyn you'll need to let the other teammates know if anyone is getting near to the flag so that we can pull back. Our goal is to take out the leader of the 10th platoon; first one to find him gets dibs."

Shin and Akira exchanged glances with each other before bumping their fists together. They worked well as a team and pairing them together on the defensive was a good move, in their eyes at least. Akira looked over at Lyra and narrowed his eyes as she started walking towards Michael. He was beginning to be wary of the swordsman, even though he knew Lyra could take care of herself.

Lyra walked over to Michael as she prepped her twin dites. "Guess we're working together today," She stated the obvious in order to start a brief conversation.

"Yeah, I guess we are," Michael responded as he looked over his dite carefully. He had done some adjustments to it the night before. "Hopefully we'll find the leader first; I could do with a good battle today." He looked over at Lyra who had a strange smirk on her face.

"I couldn't agree more." She stated as she leaned against a nearby wall. "Anyhow, how strong is the 10th platoon?" She asked, her bright blue eyes watching the swordsman.

"How strong are they?" Michael repeated. "Well, they have a squad of six members, with a very powerful nani operator and leader. They have two weaker members who will probably be sent in as distractions as their leader rushes in to get the flag. I might be wrong though since they gained a newer member this year as well." He looked thoughtful as he flipped his dite in his hand. "Anyhow, are you ready? We should be starting anytime now."

…Time skip to the start, Lyra's POV…

A shot rang out as it signaled the start of the battle. I watched Akira and Shin place themselves on either side of the flag. Maya was up in a nearby tree, hidden in the foliage. Aislyn and Aero immediately took off to the left and Michael and I took off in the other direction.

I mumbled 'restoration' and felt my two dites extend in my hands. Michael didn't have his activated yet, but I guess running with a huge longsword might bring unwanted attention to us and his reflexes were quick enough, so he probably wouldn't have any problems defending himself.

'Turn right, you have two members closing in on you,' I heard Aislyn's voice through the green terminal that had been paired up with us. I immediately veered right, noting that Michael did so as well, letting me take the lead at this point. We split up a few seconds later in order to take on our respective opponents who had split up to try and surround us.

I paused by a tree as I let kei flow easily through my right ear, listening for signs of my opponent. They came from behind me and I ducked as an axe split through the tree where my head had just been. I pushed away from the ground, changing my internal kei to focus on my legs and swords instead of my ear. I raised my swords in a starting position while the attacker swung his axe onto his shoulder. He gave me a crooked grin and I glared.

I watched as he pushed forward, making a head-on attack at me. I dodged to the left and pushed against the ground to attack from the side, only to meet his axe with both of my swords. My opponent was pretty quick, for such a large man with an even larger axe. I pushed against his axe and allowed myself to be thrust backwards into midair, landing easily on my feet. I raised my swords again as he turned to find me again.

His reflexes were quick, but I wondered…

…Michael's POV…

I left Lyra at a fork and watched as the green terminal followed me and not her. Obviously Aislyn was more worried about me messing up than she was about Lyra. I growled slightly at that idea before I heard a battle cry from behind. I called to my blade and whirled around to find one of the 10th platoon's weaker members. I raised my sword to her and caught her scimitar easily on my blade. She pulled back and I followed, attacking relentlessly until I caught her arm with the flat of my blade, causing her to drop hers.

With that, I took off to find Lyra.

…Aislyn's POV…

Something didn't feel right. I wasn't picking up any signals of the other nani operator in the area, and something was wrong with my terminals. I held felt a stronger presence from Michael's side when they split up and so had sent my terminal with him, but he had just contacted me telling me that his opponent was down. I could feel a weaker presence by Lyra, but for some reason something felt wrong to me.

I felt three members closing in on Shin, Akira, and Maya and notified them immediately. There was no one in our vicinity and without being able to find the opposing nani operator I notified Aero for us to pull back and help the three guarding the flag.

…Akira's POV…

'There are three people heading your way, Aero and I are pulling back to help you. Guard the flag until we get there.' I heard Aislyn's voice from the green terminal near Shin and myself. I nodded to Maya who nodded back to me. She pulled further back into the foliage and I knew she was looking for the three opponents coming towards us.

I heard the whistle of an arrow and immediately threw up my sword as one nearly hit my face. A bang from Maya's gun and the bowman was down. I sighed as I lucked out on the first opponent. There were two more in the vicinity though, according to Aislyn. I wondered how Lyra and Michael were faring.

…Lyra's POV…

I panted softly as the large man in front of me glared. At first he had simply smiled crookedly at me, but as our battle lasted longer and longer, he had begun to glare, as if I was supposed to simply pass out or something. I stopped the flow of kei to my legs and added it to my arms before raising my swords. If this next attack didn't work, I would be screwed anyhow.

He ran at me and I threw myself forwards, catching his axe with one of my swords I pushed forward and swung my left sword towards his shoulder. I felt him shift to try and avoid my blade. I felt my blade slice into his shoulder minutely before I was flung backwards. I landed poorly on my legs but got back into a fighting crouch.

…Michael's POV…

I ran towards the sound of clanging and saw a large man with an axe rushing towards Lyra as she threw herself forward. I knew she liked to fight, but I hadn't known she was a reckless fighter. I saw her left sword slice into the man's shoulder slightly before he pushed his axe backwards and she was flung into the air.

She landed poorly, that much I could tell from her slight stumble as she landed. Her eyes were hard as she watched the man in front of her. I began to run towards them as Lyra threw herself forwards once again. This time she stayed low to the ground with kei added to her legs, almost making her appear as a flaming blur. She let out a rough cry as she feinted right with her left blade before spinning around to his back and kicking at him with her right leg. Her feint was caught by his axe but her kick had been unexpected and sent him forward a few steps before he began to turn around only to meet Lyra at his side.

I stopped running for a few moments as something clicked in my head. Wasn't that the 10th's new member? Shit Aislyn really messed up this time. I called my sword out again and turned around to get back to the flag. If that was the 10th's new member than that meant one of the members aiming towards the flag was the leader of the 10th and one that Shin and Akira would probably need assistance with, even if they had Maya watching their backs. 'Sorry Lyra, but you're on your own for now.' I thought briefly as I ran away from her battle.

…Lyra's POV…

Damn was this dude strong. My kick had only moved him three steps! He turned around to meet me even though I was already on his left side at that point. I let my left sword push away his axe as my right one aimed at his eye. I stopped my attack before it hit him and sighed as he dropped his axe in surrender.

I decided to make my way back towards the flag, following Aislyn's green terminal.

…Aislyn's POV…

I saw for a few moments the battle between Lyra and the new 10th platoon member before I picked up the feeling of the 10th's leader. He was making his way directly towards the flag while Michael and Lyra were still making their way back. Aero and I still hadn't made it back to the flag either. I hoped that Maya and the two newer members could take care of themselves until we got there.

…Shin's POV…

I pushed back with my sword on the woman in front of me. She was pretty strong for how small she was, but I suppose the same had been said about me for quite a while. I added more kei to my arms and pushed hard against her sword, watching as she was flung backwards, even though she landed on her feet and immediately came to attack me again. I met her halfway and pushed her further from the flag. I couldn't risk fighting too close to the flag and so I left Maya and Akira on their own.

…Lyra's POV…

I heard from Aislyn that there was going to be trouble up ahead. She gave me directions towards the 10th's leader even though I could hear the doubt in her voice. I didn't expect to beat the guy though; I just aimed to slow him down so that Aero and Michael could help me out. Worst case scenario we would just slow him down until the time ran out. Best case scenario, we took him down and ended the match early.

Aislyn gave me direct directions to put me in his immediate path and I prepared myself while her green terminal floated away slightly. I crossed my swords and began to gather external kei in front of me, preparing a small cannon to either get his attention or to take him down in a very unlikely manner.

After a few minutes of preparing I saw him come into the area. From my station he wouldn't be able to see me, but I could see him easily. I released my shot and jumped out after it. If the shot missed, I would make sure that I didn't.

As I had expected, he blocked the shot but only saw me as it began to dissipate. It was then that I noticed he used twin blades as well. They were a bit longer than mine, but thinner as well. He caught my left blade with one of his while his other blade came towards my stomach. I threw myself backwards before it hit me. I crouched down low, both of my swords held in a ready position. At least I still had kei to use, I wasn't feeling a strain on it yet.

…Aero's POV…

"I've sent Lyra after the leader," I heard Aislyn say as we ran as fast as we could. I couldn't believe that the other nani operator had somehow messed up Aislyn's terminals without her realizing it. And now we had a slight problem.

I had been getting an almost play-by-play update from Aislyn and so I knew that Lyra was already tired from her first fight, Shin was no longer guarding the flag, and Michael was still trying to make his way towards the leader while Aislyn fed him directions. I had made the decision to let Michael help Lyra while I went directly to the flag, to help out there if I could.

I just hoped Lyra could hold out long enough for Michael to get there.

…Lyra's POV…

I gasped as my back crashed against a tree. I thrust my left blade into the ground so that I wouldn't fall over. I looked up to find the guy rushing at me and I raised my right sword as fast as I could. I managed to block both of his swords on it while I got my left sword out of the ground to aim another attack at him. He blocked my attack and pushed back against my blades, propelling himself backwards while I tried to follow. I simply had to slow him down, that was all I was required to do. It didn't matter if I didn't defeat the guy; I only had to slow him down.

He met my blades again and I thrust back against his, propelling both of us apart. He landed easily, I landed awkwardly. It was then that I heard a familiar voice calling my name. I turned and looked only to find my opponent lunging at me. I raised my swords and dropped to the ground to dodge. My left leg caught his stomach and I felt him fly over my head, one of his thinner swords catching my forehead slightly leaving a small gash behind. I heard Michael running towards us and heard his longsword meet with the leader's twin blades. I got to my feet and watched as Michael easily knocked one of the blades out of the man's hands, forcing him to fight with one blade, something he clearly wasn't used to. At least I knew that if I had lost a blade I could still fight just as easily while this man obviously couldn't.

I watched as Michael pushed the 10th platoon leader against a tree and placed his sword at his throat. A horn sounded the end of the match and I heard Aislyn's voice through the green terminal telling us that we had won. I sent a tired smile towards him as I let my blades retract.

**...What, now I get to speak?...**

**Alright, so I kind of left this chapter hanging but I hope to fix that this week. I'm potentially going to be updating with two chapters every Saturday for the rest of this month to make up for November but that depends on how much I can get done.**

**Also, please review! I'd love to hear what all of you think about my writing!**


	4. Field Trip arc part 1

**Mmkay, so the next few chapters will be focused on some teambuilding in the 13****th**** platoon. Hope you guys are all fine with that!**

**By the way, I do not own Chrome Shelled Regios or any of the actual CSR characters. I do however own everyone in Zuellni right now.**

…Letter to Glendan…

_We just finished our first interplatoon match and it was pretty close. We won but not by too much, it was kind of surprising to see how much of a challenge it was. I think I was expecting it to be easy since I had both of you training me before I came to Zuellni but boy did I learn fast! I guess the military arts rank within Zuellni has grown since both of you were at the Academy. Well, I have to go for now, we're going to do some teambuilding events (so Aero says anyways…), wish us luck!_

_Lyra Alseif_

…Lyra's POV…

I groaned as I got out of bed. It was three days since our battle against the 10th platoon and man was I sore. Getting smashed into a tree a few times did nothing good for my record, or for my limbs. I sighed and let my kei flow more towards my back where I felt the most pain. It was a faster way of healing, though it took a bit of practice and precision.

I slowly dressed and strapped my dites to my thighs, smiling as I saw the familiar flame pattern on the white dites. I then thought of Akira with his red and black dite. Knowing him, he would probably want some programs added to his dite, me? I didn't feel that I needed any different settings on my dite, nor had I ever trained with any. Akira could use different sword types at different times, and he also was decent with the steel string technique that dad liked.

I locked my door behind me as I began to make my way towards our training area. Aero had told us that we would be skipping our classes for a day or two for some teambuilding which made sense to me; we seemed to need a bit of it. I knew that Akira and Shin had no problems working together, and Aislyn and Aero seemed like a good team. Maya worked a lot on her own, supporting the rest of us, and Michael, I didn't really know where he and myself stood.

My head was completely lost in my thoughts so much that I didn't even notice the person in front of me until I had run into him. I fell backwards, landing on my butt while trying to figure out what I had run into. I glanced upwards and blushed slightly as I saw Michael reaching a hand down to me.

"Are you alright?" He asked me in that simple tone of his. It was curious, that was sure, and I wondered if he had come all the way over to where I lived only to run into me…

"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled as I took his hand and got to my feet. I brushed off my uniform and sighed. "Well, that was embarrassing." I clapped my hand over my mouth as I spoke out loud. Well, wasn't this day just going wonderfully?

To my relief, Michael just chuckled. "Well, if you didn't daydream as much you wouldn't run into people." He began walking towards our platoon's training area and I followed him slowly. "Running a little bit slow today are we, Lyra?" He questioned me as I caught up to him.

I fixed my internal kei flow for a few moments since my fall had messed up my control over it. "I suppose I am, but I have one question for you." I paused for a moment. "What's the reason that you came over to meet me this morning?" 'It's not like I couldn't take care of myself or something…' I thought to myself, succeeding in not saying it out loud.

"Well, I thought you could use the company, and since we're supposed to be getting to know each other a bit more, I thought this would be as good a chance as any." He was so straightforward. I stayed silent for a while, not really wanting to say anything more. "Anyhow Lyra, we're here." I heard him say to me as I looked up and saw the rest of our platoon waiting for us. "I thought I should warn you before you walked into someone else, Aero might take it the wrong way." I caught his wink towards me and blushed again.

I ran towards Maya and Aislyn, hoping that they had something more to talk to me about instead of teasing me.

…Michael's POV…

I saw Aero walk over to me and then he proceeded to elbow me in my side. "So… got your eyes on our new girl now do you?" He asked me in a teasing voice. I glanced over at Akira and saw that his eyes were narrowed as he watched me.

I shook my head, "No, I'm just trying to understand her more. If you're going to make her a partner for me in more matches then I should definitely be able to read her moves and match mine accordingly." I turned my gaze away from Akira and looked at Lyra. Personally I didn't know what I thought about her. She was a good fighter, a daydreamer, and she was actually quite cute. Her brother, however, was beginning to be wary of me, and his hatred for Aero seemed to be waning. He no longer viewed our flirt of a leader as a threat towards Lyra, so I guessed that his new target was me. What a joy.

…Time-skip to trip to the suburbs…Multi-person POV…

"Come on everyone! Let's explore!" Maya immediately ran off, pulling Aislyn and Lyra behind her. Lyra rolled her eyes slightly with a smile as she tried to keep up with Maya. The red-haired woman was faster than most people expected.

Akira nodded to Shin and the pair followed at a more leisurely pace behind the three girls. Michael grinned and followed suit, leaving Aero to take the rear. Both Aero and Michael had been to the suburbs multiple times for training and so were just along for the excitement of the newer members, and Maya of course.

…Lyra's POV…

I could only remember being kidnapped by Maya and a lot of blurry images at the end of the 'exploration' around the grounds we were staying at. I watched as Maya continued to show my brother and Shin around while Aero and Michael were talking about strategies or something. I saw Aislyn just standing around and called her over to me. It was about time I learned something about our Nani operator, I mean, the only time I had really spoken to her was during the battle when she directed me to where I had opponents to battle.

"What do you need me for?" The spiky haired girl asked me as she sat down next to me. Neither of us was looking at each other but instead out at the others.

"Well, since this is a teambuilding exercise I thought I'd try to get to know more about all of you." I threw a small smile towards her. "I mean, you know quite a bit about me already, but I know barely anything about you."

She nodded. "That's normally how I keep things until I'm around someone for a very prolonged period of time. But since you're interested I might as well let you know that I wasn't really born a Nani operator. I'm one of the rare few who learned how to use it at a young age. So I suppose you can say that I'm a bit… different than the others." I watched as she smiled very slightly. "For one, I'm still in control of all of my emotions, or at least the ones I knew before I learned how to use my nani. I guess that's also why I'm not that powerful of an operator. Also, I don't know as much about you as you would think. I have never really been able to read people's thoughts or emotions. I can sense people's presences but I've somehow been able to block out the other part."

I looked at her shocked. "So you're one of the lucky few operators then. I've known quite a few different operators who have been so emotionless that I can't even really hold a solid conversation with them." I paused for a couple of seconds. "And I'm kind of glad that you don't know everything about me." My past wasn't exactly all fun and games for me…

…Flashback, Lyra's POV…

When I was born, I had been very weak. My lungs could barely hold enough air for me to act normally, let alone train in the military arts. Even with my insistence on training, my father had opposed it, while my mom had taken me under her wing. She had helped me to build up my stamina through simple exercises and eventually was able to start training the rest of my body and my kei. I had been no where near powerful when my mom and I trained since I had no ways of unlocking my kei when I couldn't even support myself physically. Eventually, after three hard years of training I was given my first set of dites. From there on I spent another two years building up more stamina while learning how to use twin swords. My father watched me closely even though he still opposed my entrance to the military arts. It took until I was thirteen for me to finally be able to beat Akira in a sparring match with both of us not holding back. After that, I slowly began to get better at controlling my kei in order to keep my lungs from failing myself again. Now, at age sixteen, I was entered into the Academy beside Akira who had never had any problems in the military arts, while I had struggled my way to my current position.

…Back to present day, Lyra's POV…

"Lyra? Lyra, are you alright?" I looked up to see Michael's green eyes looking into mine, with his right hand on my forehead. I hadn't even realized he had come over to join Aislyn and myself.

I nodded slightly, "y-yeah, I'm fine, I just spaced out a bit," I smiled; slightly surprised that he was worried about me.

He looked at me weirdly for a few moments and then sighed. "Alright, but you were really pale, as if you had seen a ghost or something."

I shook my head, "no, really, I'm fine." I hadn't seen a ghost; I had only relived my struggles with my own body, struggles that were slowly starting to reappear since I had crashed into that stupid tree. The upcoming days were going to be crucial if I wanted to keep Akira from worrying about me even more. I mean, he was already so protective of me because of what he had grown up with, but… I didn't want him to tell our parents and somehow get me knocked out of the military arts program because of my first interplatoon match.

…**Afterword…**

**Yeah, this chapter sucks and I am very sorry for it. Also, I'm sorry for the delay since my mother didn't tell me that I was being stolen for the day until after I was almost done with this chapter. **

**Also, if you guys are reading this, please review because I'd love to know what you all think about this fanfic.**

**Thanks!**

**~Lokiva**


	5. Sadly on Hold not actual chapter

**Alright, I'm sorry for getting all of you excited, but this story is on hold for now. I'm busy preparing for the NaNoWriMo, along with getting the plotline for this story fixed for the next chapters, etc. I plan on continuing to work on this story during this hold, but I will not be posting any chapters that I finish. So, after November you might find a few more chapters instead of just one. Again, I apologize and while these stories are on my priority list, they aren't the highest on it.**

**I hope to start both of my stories back up in December, potentially with a third one as well, provided I'm able to get up-to-date on 'A new generation, an old enemy' and 'Blind and Beautiful'**

**I owe you all one chapter of Blind and Beautiful for this month, one for next month, and one for December, so a total of three chapters should be coming out in December when/if I start writing fics again then.**

**I owe you all a total of twelve chapters for 'A new generation, an old enemy' if I start back up at the end of December for that story. I hope to be able to update with all of these throughout the month of December, probably one ever two days or so in order to catch up (I hope to not be completely written out from the WriMo at this point, but you never know)**

**Again, I apologize for these holds, I promise to make it up to you all!**

**~Lokiva**


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